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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24815620">Please Notice</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakejuicewyatt/pseuds/snakejuicewyatt'>snakejuicewyatt</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Parks and Recreation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/F, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Jealousy, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:34:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,424</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24815620</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakejuicewyatt/pseuds/snakejuicewyatt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe this wasn’t a great idea- she hadn’t considered the actual time she would have to spend fake-dating Tom- plus, Chris had forbidden that, too- how would this work? She should call it off. Yeah, she should text Tom right now and tell him to find someone else to rile up Jean-Ralphio with. But she thought about Ben tensing up, seeing his jaw clench, and finally having proof her feelings weren’t one-sided. No, it wasn’t perfect, but Leslie didn’t care. From now on, she was Tom Haverford’s fake-girlfriend.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ann Perkins &amp; Ben Wyatt, Leslie Knope &amp; Ann Perkins, Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt, Tom Haverford &amp; Leslie Knope, Tom Haverford/Jean-Ralphio Saperstein, Tom Haverford/Leslie Knope</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Parks Fanfic Revival 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Fake dating AU for the 2020 parks fanfic revival collection<br/>this is the first fic i've posted so comments are much appreciated!!!<br/>Also listen to please notice by Christian Leave since it's heavy inspiration for this fic mwah</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ever since Ben Wyatt had come to Pawnee, Leslie’s life had been much more complicated. As much as she liked him, and as much as she thought about kissing him whenever she saw him, and as much as she wanted to be with him, Leslie couldn’t ignore the undeniable chaos he brought to her life. When they first met, he was striking her parks budget, and although she had hated him at the time, Leslie almost wished now that she could go back to that time of her life. Before he liked her, before she liked him, and before both of those facts meant that they could lose their jobs.</p>
<p>At the same time, Leslie was tired of waiting around. She had told Ann that much, which always warranted the same response: “just go for it!” In fact, this whole conversation, or variations of it, had happened hundreds of times before.</p>
<p>“Ann, I could lose my job.”</p>
<p>“Then you need to move on.”</p>
<p>“But Ann!”</p>
<p>“Leslie…”</p>
<p>“I hate Chris. And his stupid rules. He’s stupid and I hate his stupid face.”</p>
<p>“I know.”</p>
<p>“Does he hate love? Not that I <em>love</em>… you know what I mean. He’s just a stupid jerk.” noting the look on her best friend’s face, Leslie added, “and you know, he treated you very badly.” Ann nodded.</p>
<p>“Look, Leslie, we can talk in circles about Ben all you want, but sooner or later you need to make a decision about this. You can’t be stuck in relationship limbo forever!”</p>
<p>“Why not, Ann?” Leslie whined.</p>
<p>“Yeah, Ann, why not?” Tom popped up from underneath his desk.</p>
<p>Ann groaned. “How long has he been under there?” Her questioning glance at Leslie received just a shrug in response. Tom was always eavesdropping on Leslie’s conversations; this wasn’t new.</p>
<p>“That’s not important.” Leslie could feel Ann roll her eyes, but ignored her for now. Tom seemed to be on her side. “Leslie, the best part of a relationship is the lead-up. No one cares about a couple once they get together!”</p>
<p>“That’s just not true-” Ann started, but Tom ignored her.</p>
<p>“I’m not finished. Take me and Jean-Ralphio, for example. We hooked up, and it was, in a word: awesome. Then, we tried to date— big mistake— and it was boring, and stupid, and we broke up.”</p>
<p>“Wait, you’re dating Jean-Ralphio?”</p>
<p>“No, I’m not! That’s the whole point, Leslie! God, are you even listening?” Tom shook his head in frustration and sat down. “Okay, I’ll go from the beginning-”</p>
<p>“Tom, look, no offense, but I have bigger problems to deal with right now.”</p>
<p>“For your sake, I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just say that. And this involves you, too, Leslie, so you might wanna be nicer to me.”</p>
<p>“How could this possibly involve me?”</p>
<p>“Wellllllllll, I might have a proposition for you.” Tom slid his chair away from his desk to sit with Leslie and Ann.</p>
<p>“She says no.” Ann muttered, but Leslie ignored her.</p>
<p>“Wait.” Leslie started. Ann tried to interject again, but Leslie stopped her. “What is it?”</p>
<p>“Okay, so, remember last week in the conference room when I was messing with you?” Of course Leslie remembered. It was all she had been thinking about. “And then I kissed you and Chris saw and told me that city hall relationships are not forbidden? Yeah, I remember.”</p>
<p>“Well, your nerd boyfriend talked to me after, and he was totally jealous.”</p>
<p>“Ben was jealous?” Leslie could feel her face heating up.</p>
<p>“Leslie..” Ann warned, but Tom and Leslie continued ignoring her.</p>
<p>“Oh, he was <em>totally</em> jealous! It was so embarrassing for him. He was all like, ‘Tom, I can’t believe you pulled the one chick I thought was into me! I really am a nerd!’”</p>
<p>She knew Tom was exaggerating, but she hoped the core of what he was saying was true. Ben was jealous. Of Tom. Because of her. She knew that wouldn’t leave her mind for weeks.</p>
<p>Ann must have noticed her drifting away. “Okay, Tom, are you building up to a point, or..?” She sighed, clearly exasperated.</p>
<p>“Thank you for asking, Ann. Yes, I am. I want to hook up with Jean-Ralphio again. But he’s all like ‘our relationship is over!’. He thinks we’re boring now. And Leslie, you want to move forward with Ben even though he’s not taking action, right? The solution? Fake dating.”</p>
<p>The room grew silent. Leslie considered his proposition. It was crazy- she knew it was crazy. But another part of her longed to see Ben tense up, to see his jaw clench, to have proof her feelings weren’t one-sided.</p>
<p>“You can’t actually be considering this?” Ann’s voice interrupted her thoughts, bringing Leslie back to reality.</p>
<p>“I-” She glanced at Ann, before swallowing and looking back at Tom. “Okay.”</p>
<p>“YES!” Tom cheered.</p>
<p>“Leslie, NO!” Tom was standing up now, and Ann just shook her head in disbelief. “Leslie, this is an awful idea. It doesn’t solve anything! You’re still in the same situation as before-”</p>
<p>“Shut up, Ann.”</p>
<p>“Leslie!”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, but I’m very frustrated and I just- I need to do this. I love you Ann, but I’m gonna do Tom’s thing.”</p>
<p>“You won’t regret this, Leslie.” Tom cheered and started walking out of the office.</p>
<p>“Wait, where are you going? We still have work-”</p>
<p>“Thank you so much! Byeeeeee!” Tom turned on his heel and ran out of the department. Ann stared at Leslie in shock.</p>
<p>“Leslie, really? No offense, but this is one of Tom’s dumbest ideas, and that’s saying a lot. This doesn’t solve anything!” As usual, Leslie was frustrated by her beautiful best friend’s logic.</p>
<p>“Ann, you beautiful woodland creature, shut up. I like Ben, and I can’t do anything about it. This might not solve anything, but- at least I’m <em>doing</em> something, okay? I can’t- I can’t keep waiting around.” Ann sighed, but Leslie could tell she was done arguing. “Besides, who are you to talk? You totally like Shauna, and you don’t even have a reason not to talk to her.”</p>
<p>“Yes, I do!”</p>
<p>“Okay, what?”</p>
<p>“She slept with Mark! Remember?”</p>
<p>“So? You did too! You don’t see me holding that against you. And, plus, you’re a lesbian now. That’s just what he does to women.”</p>
<p>“I’m not a lesbian because of Mark, Leslie-”</p>
<p>“No, I’m right.”</p>
<p>“Whatever.” Ann stood up, glancing at the clock. “I gotta go. Love you. Don’t fake date Tom.”</p>
<p>“Love you too! Talk to Shauna!” Ann groaned as she excited the office, leaving Leslie alone with her thoughts. Maybe this wasn’t a great idea- she hadn’t considered the actual time she would have to spend fake-dating Tom- plus, Chris had forbidden that, too- how would this work? She should call it off. Yeah, she should text Tom right now and tell him to find someone else to rile up Jean-Ralphio with. But she thought about the look on Ben’s face in the conference room, and she just couldn’t. It wasn’t perfect, but Leslie didn’t care. From now on, she was Tom Haverford’s fake-girlfriend.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ben was stuck. He knew, logically, that the only option for him was to move on. No matter how much it hurt, Chris’ rules weren’t changing, and he wouldn’t risk his job for someone he wasn’t even dating.</p>
<p>
  <em>Not yet…</em>
</p>
<p>No. Ben shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He knew better than to think like that. He was acting crazy- he didn’t even know if Leslie liked him back, he couldn’t be thinking about risking his job for her. Ben looked at Chris’ empty seat across from him. It was hard not being mad at Chris these days, but he knew that he shouldn’t be- his rules made sense, they really did, and he had been Ben’s best friend for a while. Really, Ben was better off taking his mind off of Leslie for good. That’s why he decided to go to the snakehole lounge that night.</p>
<p>He wasn’t expecting to see Leslie there- Tom had told him about some new event at the lounge, and he knew that Leslie was still mad at him for the stunt he pulled last week, so he doubted she’d be there. So when he walked in and saw her by the bar with Tom and Ann, his heart dropped to his stomach.</p>
<p>This would be fine. He was still her friend! And to Leslie, Ben figured, everything was the same. There was no reason to be nervous around her. Composing himself, Ben plastered on a smile and walked over to the bar. “Hey guys. Here for singles night?” Ann smiled in his direction, but Ben noticed Leslie’s sudden indifference.</p>
<p>“Oh, Ann is.” Tom replied. “Me and my boo? We’re just here to oversee.” Tom draped his arm around Leslie’s shoulder, and Ben’s world collapsed in on itself.</p>
<p>He took a deep breath. He knew Tom had messed with Leslie earlier, this was probably just another inside joke from the Parks department. There was no reason for his heart to be beating that fast. Everything was still okay. “Um, what-”</p>
<p>“Tom! You weren’t supposed to tell him!” Leslie giggled, cutting Ben off. “We’re dating. But don’t tell Chris, we’ll get in big trouble.”</p>
<p>“I- I won’t.” Ben’s head spun as he tried to process this new information. They were joking, right? Tom and Leslie? They were probably the two people least likely to hook up that he knew. He tried to imagine a scenario where they could possibly- gross. Nope. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t believe Leslie would risk her job for <em>him</em>. He had always assumed she loved work too much to risk it for any relationship, but if she were going to, he had thought… well. He was wrong, apparently.</p>
<p>Ann, Tom, and Leslie had returned to conversation, making Ben painfully aware of his sobriety. He ordered a beer and tried to maintain his composure as the three of them talked about some new project Leslie was starting. Leslie was nervous, but he knew it would succeed. Her projects always did. Tom moved his arm from her shoulder to his waist, and he couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m sorry, Tom, I thought you told me you were just messing around with Leslie the other day?”</p>
<p>“I told you that because…” Tom faltered for a second, and for a second Ben thought he would laugh and reveal that this was all a big prank.</p>
<p>“Because we didn’t want you to tell Chris.” Leslie finished. “But… yeah! We’re dating. It’s new, it’s exciting, it’s fresh. I think it’s going well, don’t you?”</p>
<p>“I certainly do, boo bear! Hey, has anyone seen Jean-Ralphio? He didn’t reply to my text.”</p>
<p>Ann chimed in for the first time since Ben had walked over. He had a habit of forgetting she was there when Leslie was around. “I think I saw him talking to Andy.” Tom nodded and grabbed Leslie by the hand, seemingly to go find Jean-Ralphio. Ben turned to face Ann.</p>
<p>“So, they’re…”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” Ann looked at Ben pitifully. “Sorry.” God, her pity was almost worse than seeing Leslie and Tom together. Was he really that obvious?</p>
<p>Ben frowned. “Nothing to be sorry about. Good for them. Good for them.” Ann stared at him for a few seconds. “He just… doesn’t seem like her type. And she doesn’t seem like his type.”</p>
<p>Ann nodded. “I know what you mean.” She sighed, and opened her mouth to speak again, but closed it, seemingly deciding against it.<br/>Ben suddenly realized he had never really had a one-on-one conversation with Ann before. He only ever saw her when Leslie was around, and when Leslie was there, Ann was not at the top of his mind, to say the least. He knew he needed to move on, and if Leslie was really dating Tom Haverford, of all people, maybe actually befriending Ann could help him shift his relationship with Leslie, too. Friends hung out with each other’s friends, right? Ben was figuring out something to say something to Ann, when a nervous Shauna Malwae-Tweep approached them.</p>
<p>“Hey, Ann. Ben.” Ben nodded at her politely.</p>
<p>“You look nice, Shauna.” Ann said.</p>
<p>“You too,” she replied. Ben raised his eyebrows and looked between the two women. Shauna was grinning like an idiot, and Ann was fidgeting with her drink. <em>Oh.</em></p>
<p>“Um, I really liked that piece you did last week, about, um, the math curriculum?” Ann managed to get out. Ben had never seen her this nervous before.</p>
<p>Shauna’s face lit up. “Really? Thank you! It was so interesting to talk to the old teachers, and I especially liked the segment with the principal.”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” Ann coughed, and turned red, before continuing hastily. “I’m sorry, I didn’t read the article, Leslie told me about it, I don’t know why I brought that up.”</p>
<p>Ben decided that was his cue. He ducked out of the conversation, taking a seat by himself at the bar. From the corner of his eye, Ben noticed Tom and Leslie dancing. He ordered another beer. It was going to be a long night.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Why wasn’t Ben talking to her? Tom had deserted her a while ago, to talk to Jean-Ralphio, she was pretty sure. Maybe. She was pretty drunk- she wasn’t sure of anything. Leslie couldn’t spot Ben at the bar. In fact, as she looked around, she didn’t see him anywhere. She was starting to get annoyed. She wasn’t pretending to date Tom for nothing- he said Ben liked her. He said he was jealous. So where was he?</p><p>“Ann!” Leslie stumbled over to her friend. “I can’t find Ben anywhere. Why isn’t he sad, Ann?”</p><p>“Because your plan is stupid, Leslie.” Leslie grasped at the cloth of her best friend’s shirt, balancing herself. </p><p>“Plan?” Leslie glanced up at Shauna, who was looking at her questioningly. </p><p>“Oh! Hey Shauna!” She hadn’t even noticed she was there. “Ann, you’re talking to Shauna, finally!” Leslie’s head started throbbing, and she staggered backwards.</p><p>“Okay, Leslie, let’s sit down.” Ann guided Leslie by the waist to an empty couch, shooting an apologetic glance to Shauna. For what, Leslie didn’t know. “Stay here. I’ll get you water.” Ann left Leslie slumped on the couch. But Leslie didn’t want water- she wanted another vodka cranberry. </p><p>She was about to yell to Ann, but Ben was suddenly standing in front of her. Seeing her, he sighed, picked up his beer that had been left alone on the table, and began to walk away.</p><p>“WAIT! Ben!” Leslie called out. He hesitated. “Sit with me!” An expression she couldn’t quite place flitted across his face before he sighed and sat down.</p><p>“Hey,” he mumbled. </p><p>“Hey!” He was ignoring her. “How’s your night-”</p><p>“Where’s Tom?” He cut her off. Rude. </p><p>“Um, he’s with Jean-Ralphio, I think-”</p><p>“Interesting.” There was an edge in his voice that Leslie couldn’t quite comprehend- like jealousy, but sharper. “I would think he would be spending time with his new girlfriend.”</p><p>“What do you care?” Leslie prompted him.</p><p>“I don’t.” Ben took a big swig of his beer. “It’s just- I didn’t think you would risk your career like that.”</p><p>Leslie’s brain was too mushy to deal with this. The sharpness in his voice hurt her much more than it should. She didn’t mean for him to get mad at <em> her </em>, this wasn’t the goal. “It’s my choice what I do, Ben.”</p><p>“Well, I would have thought you would have at least talked to me, first, Leslie.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>Ben wasn’t even looking at her anymore. He shook his head. “Don’t- you know why.”</p><p>“Say it then.”</p><p>“Leslie, I don’t want to play games with you.” He sighed. “You know what, nevermind. For all I know, maybe you do like Tom.” </p><p>“Well, at least Tom has the guts to tell me what he wants from me!”</p><p>Ben’s head shot up. “You <em> know </em> what I want, Leslie!” His raised voice surprised both of them, creating a silence between them. She couldn’t do this right now. She was tired, and drunk, and suddenly very anxious. </p><p>“No, I don’t,” she whispered.</p><p>Ben glanced up from his beer to look at her. His gaze softened. Leslie wondered if maybe, finally, he would say something. But he didn’t, he just looked at her. If Leslie were sober, she might have been able to figure out what was going on behind his eyes. But she wasn’t, and she was too overwhelmed to try. Before Ben could say anything, Ann approached with a glass of water. Ben nodded at Ann in acknowledgement, and stood up to leave. “I’m sorry, Leslie. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s your life, do what you want.” </p><p>Leslie felt her stomach twist. Ann sat down next to her and handed her the glass of water. She tried to keep it together, but Ann grabbed her hands and asked, “are you okay?” and that was officially too much. She started to cry, and Ann pulled her into a hug. They just sat there for a while, Leslie crying and Ann rubbing her back, until Leslie remembered she was in a public space. She pulled back, wiping her tears. </p><p>“Let’s get you home.” Ann guided Leslie to the parking lot. Leslie would have to text Tom later. This was an awful idea. She was done.</p><p> </p><p>****</p><p> </p><p>Jean-Ralphio was an idiot. Either he couldn’t see how badly he was hurting Tom, or he didn’t care. Tom couldn’t decide which was worse. He knew that the hookup hadn’t meant as much to Jean-Ralphio as it had to him; he was fine with that. He wasn’t expecting them to get <em> married </em> or anything, and it was honestly pretty insulting that his best friend didn’t know him well enough to realize that. But whenever Tom even so much as brought up their relationship, or even the prospect of hooking up again, Jean-Ralphio got all vague and changed the subject. </p><p>That’s why the Leslie fake-dating idea was so genius. It was one of his best ideas, honestly. And it worked! Last night, Jean-Ralphio had been totally jealous. One look at Tom and Leslie dancing, and he had pulled Tom across the floor into the bathroom, where he had slammed him into the wall, and… well. Hooking up with Jean-Ralphio was amazing. They had hooked up twice now, and Tom was amazed again by how perfectly they fit together, how <em> right </em> it felt. </p><p>Blech. Ew. No. Tom was not going to let Jean-Ralphio turn him mushy. He liked him, sure, but Tom was not gonna turn into a sap overnight. Not even for his best friend.</p><p>Tom needed to focus on the most important part of all of this: they hooked up again! His plan worked! He wasn’t quite sure where to go from here, but he figured that a few more nights like that, and Jean-Ralphio would definitely want to make a more permanent plan of action. He was just about to text Leslie, asking if she wanted to get dinner at the restaurant neighboring Jean-Ralphio’s apartment, when she texted him first.</p><p><em> We need to talk. </em> Tom sighed. Of course. <em> Where are you? </em></p><p><em> Leslie, I’m in the office that we share. Where are </em> you <em> ? </em></p><p>
  <em> JJ’s. Get here. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Now. </em>
</p><p>Tom rolled his eyes. He was not in the mood for JJ’s or Leslie right now. But she was his pretend-girlfriend or whatever, so he sucked it up and went. She was sitting in the booth, her foot tapping anxiously, nibbling on a waffle. He slid into the seat opposite her.</p><p>“Hey boo!” She grimaced.</p><p>“Don’t call me that.”</p><p>“Why not? You’re my <em> girlfriend </em>.” Tom reached over to grab her hand resting on the table.</p><p>“No, I’m not.” Leslie pulled her hand away sharply. “I’m done. This was a bad idea.”</p><p>“Leslie, noooo! Why?” Tom whined. </p><p>“It didn’t work! Ben didn’t make a move, he just got all… passive-aggressive and sad!” This isn’t what he had expected. Without Leslie, he knew he would never have a shot at hooking up with Jean-Ralphio again.</p><p>“Leslie, that’s just Ben. He’s always passive-aggressive and sad,” he joked.  Leslie didn’t crack a smile. “Look, you just need him to see that he needs to make a move. We need to do something big to catch his attention.”</p><p>“Tom, Ben isn’t the kind of guy to hook up with someone in a relationship. He’s a nice guy. This was a bad idea.” She moved, as if to get up. Tom yelped. </p><p>“NO! Leslie! Hang on.” She looked at him suspiciously, but slowly sat back down. “I have an idea.”</p>
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